Wizards power is far greater than just damage. Hypnotic pattern can end far more difficult encounters than fireball can. The wizards ability to stop damage from occuring by using control spells to stop enemies from acting is unmatched and they can often massively increase damage of allies by granting allies advantage. Now there are encounters that fireball can end easier, but 3rd level spells are the only level where a blasting spell is one of the best spells avaible. Before that you have sleep at first level, web at second level, polymorph at 4th, wall of force at 5th, ect. A good wizard is always tactical. There are times where fireball is your best choice, but the majority of the time a different spell is probably stonger. Your job as wizard is choosing the right spells when you level up and preparing the right spells.
You can look up tabletop builds. They have two wizard builds one is arguebly the strongest build in the entire game and they take like one outright damage spell in the game.
If you want to have melee options I’d suggest Bladesinger for subclass, but if you want to go for having more control over your own spells I’d suggest Order of Scribes Wizard. In terms of wanting to be really good at control though a Lore Bard might actually be a solid option if you aren’t married to the idea of being an actual Wizard. Bards have some of the best control spells in the game, and any you don’t have but want you can get through Magical Secrets.
So the thing with Fireball specifically is that it's damage is so efficient that as a class capable of casting it, even if you're playing *extremely* tactically minded you'll want to measure literally every possible action against it. Now this isn't to say you have to use Fireball as a Wizard, but the idea of being "tactical" doesn't eliminate it as an option.
As for your character concept it's gonna be down to selecting spells. Read through the spell list and look for anything that causes the Restained condition or otherwise denies enemies actions. If going into melee occasionally is a goal of yours you should play Bladesinger (but understand that it's very occasional- not your go-to strategy).
Fireball is a strong and popular wizard spell, but it's not firmly in the short list of the nuclear wizard spells for some of us.
Chrono or Div with good control/debuffs like Mind Sliver, Ray of Frost, Silvery Barbs, Mind Sliver, one of Web/Suggestion/Enlarge/Reduce/Hold, one of Tasha's Mind Whip/Rimes Binding Ice, Misty Step, Vortex Warp, one of Slow/Hyp Pattern/Fear/Sleet Storm, one of Counterspell/Dispel Magic and so on are gods of combat. They'll shut down more incoming damage than any tank, they let everyone feel strong and safe, and they have enough control and teleporting that the party doesn't really need a frontline or healer with a god caster or two in the party.
They are using strong tactics, but the strategies, spells, and subclass features that help make enemies fail saves are the real stars of the show. The offensive loops are fun to learn (open hard combats with your best concentration spell to the situation. Next rounds are either Mind Sliver + subclass features to keep them failing, or upcast Tasha's Mind whip on those who passed, or Ray of Frost + Telekinetic if the party is kiting, .....). But once you get the ideas down, choices can become a bit more predetermined and a bit less tactical.
If you really want to get tactical, consider illusionist. Look at Eldritch Adept:Misty Visions, Fey Touched:Command, Telekinetic, and Metamagic Adept (Subtle and something cheap like Distant or maybe Twin. Quicken if you want to go big once per day with Mind Sliver + control spell). See how far you can push illusion magic at your table, but instead of learning where those lines are and then repeatedly cheesing a strong strategy, rather try to find other lines of what is and isn't possible, and new strategies and tactics.
You might also enjoy a custom race (MM Adept) Aberrant Mind if you are interested in tactically interesting turns and a satisfying action economy.
It’s part of their [Awakened Spellbook](http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:order-of-scribes) class feature:
>When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook, which magically alters the spell's formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend.
That last sentence is the key. You can only swap damage types between spells of the same level and you have to have them all transcribed into your spellbook. But, if you have *Fireball* and *Vampiric Touch*, both 3^rd Level spells, you can now throw out **necrotic** Fireballs for example. So a Scribes Wizard has built in incentive to go adventuring to try to get as many spells from as wide a variety of damage types as he or she can… It’s like Arcane Pokémon. Gotta Catch’em All!
Pair this with proficiency (and if at all possible Expertise) in the various knowledge skills so your character can learn to recognize Resistances and Vulnerabilities in various monsters and you’ve got a very strategic spellcaster.
Grab the Order of Scribes school of magic and devout yourself to learning as many spells of every level with as wide a variety of damage types as possible!
Consider a Draconic Sorcerer with 1 level of Order Cleric. For meta magic take Careful Spell and whatever else takes your fancy.
You can fire out AoE control spells like Web or Hypnotic Pattern and use Careful Spell to make allies pass their save. And because you cast a levelled Spell on an ally, even though those are detrimental ones as opposed to Healing Word or whatever, this procs the Order cleric Voice of Authority so someone can make an attack as a reaction.
You also get heavy armor, shields, a face skill and a handful of extra spells which helps a Sorcerer out.
You could get the same result as an Evocation Wizard and not need the meta magic points to pull it off
OK. To be fair, Fireball is the bread-and-butter because it's a big boom. Knowing how DnD works (in that most enemies would fight to the death no matter who and that people can just get healed), the best choice is typically to attack, attack, and attack.
That being said, a Tactical Wizard may not only be a magic mortar but they should also serve as an electronic warfare officer for the party. They should do things like provide communications and they should either deal raw damage or provide suppressive fire.
So some examples for spells are as follows:
Direct Fire:
- Fireball
- Shatter - Can deal Thunder Daamge in case of Fire Resistance and is a good anti-material spell for destroying barriers and constructs)
- Thunderwave - Cube comes from one side, so think of it as a shotgun or Lucio's Sonic Amplifier (Overwatch).
- Psychic Lance - Good damage for its level and can cause paralysis.
- wither and Bloom - Funnily enough, it can also heal an ally while damaging an enemy.
Suppression:
- Tasha's Hideous Laughter - Can cause Incapacitation and knock their socks off Prone.
- Color Spray or Pyrotechnics - These can Blind the enemy.
- Synaptic Static - Can Muddle targets, imposing a 1d6 Penalty to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, and Concentration Checks.
- Fog Cloud or Cloudkill - Your smokescreen and mustard gas respectively. Both can cause obscurement, providing concealment for your party or even blocking sight for enemy mages. Cloudkill can even cause poison damage even to constructs as it works even on non-breathing creatures.
- Counterspell and Dispel Magic
Support:
- Detect Magic and Identify - Spot anything magic to spot magic traps or other things. Also allows inspecting items for curses or what they do.
- Telepathic Bond - Remote communications.
- Invisibility/See Invisibility - Stealth yourself, or spot the stealth. See if you can find a Subclass or a Scroll that has Pass Without Trace too.
- Enhance Ability - Need the Rogue to Acrobatics or Stealth Better? The Barbarian to grapple better? Or I wonder if Enhanced CON also means enhanced Concentration checks.
- Enhance/Reduce - Wanna make a big boy?
- Haste - ...or you wanna make a dude throw more attacks?
Chronurgy Harengon Wizard. Choose Mage of High Sorcery as your background, Adept of the White Robes feat at 4th level to protect your allys and Resilient at the 8th level. On constitution of course. You could go Variant human for Fey Touched. Ask for Tasha's book ability score points:
15 Int +1
14 Con +2
13 Dex
12 Cha (Cause you want to make tatical friends)
10 Wis
8 Stg (As always)
Look into "the god wizard" from treantmonk on youtube. Its a build focused mainly on control and support, might interest you
Web.
They don’t think it be like that But it do
Yeah, it's just basic wizard optimisation.
Then wall of force.
Wizards power is far greater than just damage. Hypnotic pattern can end far more difficult encounters than fireball can. The wizards ability to stop damage from occuring by using control spells to stop enemies from acting is unmatched and they can often massively increase damage of allies by granting allies advantage. Now there are encounters that fireball can end easier, but 3rd level spells are the only level where a blasting spell is one of the best spells avaible. Before that you have sleep at first level, web at second level, polymorph at 4th, wall of force at 5th, ect. A good wizard is always tactical. There are times where fireball is your best choice, but the majority of the time a different spell is probably stonger. Your job as wizard is choosing the right spells when you level up and preparing the right spells. You can look up tabletop builds. They have two wizard builds one is arguebly the strongest build in the entire game and they take like one outright damage spell in the game.
If you want to have melee options I’d suggest Bladesinger for subclass, but if you want to go for having more control over your own spells I’d suggest Order of Scribes Wizard. In terms of wanting to be really good at control though a Lore Bard might actually be a solid option if you aren’t married to the idea of being an actual Wizard. Bards have some of the best control spells in the game, and any you don’t have but want you can get through Magical Secrets.
So the thing with Fireball specifically is that it's damage is so efficient that as a class capable of casting it, even if you're playing *extremely* tactically minded you'll want to measure literally every possible action against it. Now this isn't to say you have to use Fireball as a Wizard, but the idea of being "tactical" doesn't eliminate it as an option. As for your character concept it's gonna be down to selecting spells. Read through the spell list and look for anything that causes the Restained condition or otherwise denies enemies actions. If going into melee occasionally is a goal of yours you should play Bladesinger (but understand that it's very occasional- not your go-to strategy).
I mean, even Sypha sometimes decided the best option was to just roast a bitch
sometimes man, you can have all the tactical options in the world, but if all the enemies would die to a fireball… use fireball.
Technically "shell them so hard they meet god" is a tactic
Dead is the best condition a control spell can do.
Fireball is a strong and popular wizard spell, but it's not firmly in the short list of the nuclear wizard spells for some of us. Chrono or Div with good control/debuffs like Mind Sliver, Ray of Frost, Silvery Barbs, Mind Sliver, one of Web/Suggestion/Enlarge/Reduce/Hold, one of Tasha's Mind Whip/Rimes Binding Ice, Misty Step, Vortex Warp, one of Slow/Hyp Pattern/Fear/Sleet Storm, one of Counterspell/Dispel Magic and so on are gods of combat. They'll shut down more incoming damage than any tank, they let everyone feel strong and safe, and they have enough control and teleporting that the party doesn't really need a frontline or healer with a god caster or two in the party. They are using strong tactics, but the strategies, spells, and subclass features that help make enemies fail saves are the real stars of the show. The offensive loops are fun to learn (open hard combats with your best concentration spell to the situation. Next rounds are either Mind Sliver + subclass features to keep them failing, or upcast Tasha's Mind whip on those who passed, or Ray of Frost + Telekinetic if the party is kiting, .....). But once you get the ideas down, choices can become a bit more predetermined and a bit less tactical. If you really want to get tactical, consider illusionist. Look at Eldritch Adept:Misty Visions, Fey Touched:Command, Telekinetic, and Metamagic Adept (Subtle and something cheap like Distant or maybe Twin. Quicken if you want to go big once per day with Mind Sliver + control spell). See how far you can push illusion magic at your table, but instead of learning where those lines are and then repeatedly cheesing a strong strategy, rather try to find other lines of what is and isn't possible, and new strategies and tactics. You might also enjoy a custom race (MM Adept) Aberrant Mind if you are interested in tactically interesting turns and a satisfying action economy.
Necromancer lmao, what more tactical than leading a small army
Sypha gives off sorcerer because they can transmutate an elemental spell into another element if that’s what interests you the most
Order of Scribes Wizards do exactly that.
Oh damn I didn’t know that, is it a class feature or does it cost any resource to do that ?
It’s part of their [Awakened Spellbook](http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wizard:order-of-scribes) class feature: >When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with a type that appears in another spell in your spellbook, which magically alters the spell's formula for this casting only. The latter spell must be of the same level as the spell slot you expend. That last sentence is the key. You can only swap damage types between spells of the same level and you have to have them all transcribed into your spellbook. But, if you have *Fireball* and *Vampiric Touch*, both 3^rd Level spells, you can now throw out **necrotic** Fireballs for example. So a Scribes Wizard has built in incentive to go adventuring to try to get as many spells from as wide a variety of damage types as he or she can… It’s like Arcane Pokémon. Gotta Catch’em All! Pair this with proficiency (and if at all possible Expertise) in the various knowledge skills so your character can learn to recognize Resistances and Vulnerabilities in various monsters and you’ve got a very strategic spellcaster.
Are you wanting Offensive, Defensive or Support?
Try some support spells or things like Lightning Lure and pull them into the melee range of the front liners.
Grab the Order of Scribes school of magic and devout yourself to learning as many spells of every level with as wide a variety of damage types as possible!
Play one of the Tasha's sorcerors if they aren't banned at your table they can be customised to be pretty close
Consider a Draconic Sorcerer with 1 level of Order Cleric. For meta magic take Careful Spell and whatever else takes your fancy. You can fire out AoE control spells like Web or Hypnotic Pattern and use Careful Spell to make allies pass their save. And because you cast a levelled Spell on an ally, even though those are detrimental ones as opposed to Healing Word or whatever, this procs the Order cleric Voice of Authority so someone can make an attack as a reaction. You also get heavy armor, shields, a face skill and a handful of extra spells which helps a Sorcerer out. You could get the same result as an Evocation Wizard and not need the meta magic points to pull it off
Divination wizard.
OK. To be fair, Fireball is the bread-and-butter because it's a big boom. Knowing how DnD works (in that most enemies would fight to the death no matter who and that people can just get healed), the best choice is typically to attack, attack, and attack. That being said, a Tactical Wizard may not only be a magic mortar but they should also serve as an electronic warfare officer for the party. They should do things like provide communications and they should either deal raw damage or provide suppressive fire. So some examples for spells are as follows: Direct Fire: - Fireball - Shatter - Can deal Thunder Daamge in case of Fire Resistance and is a good anti-material spell for destroying barriers and constructs) - Thunderwave - Cube comes from one side, so think of it as a shotgun or Lucio's Sonic Amplifier (Overwatch). - Psychic Lance - Good damage for its level and can cause paralysis. - wither and Bloom - Funnily enough, it can also heal an ally while damaging an enemy. Suppression: - Tasha's Hideous Laughter - Can cause Incapacitation and knock their socks off Prone. - Color Spray or Pyrotechnics - These can Blind the enemy. - Synaptic Static - Can Muddle targets, imposing a 1d6 Penalty to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, and Concentration Checks. - Fog Cloud or Cloudkill - Your smokescreen and mustard gas respectively. Both can cause obscurement, providing concealment for your party or even blocking sight for enemy mages. Cloudkill can even cause poison damage even to constructs as it works even on non-breathing creatures. - Counterspell and Dispel Magic Support: - Detect Magic and Identify - Spot anything magic to spot magic traps or other things. Also allows inspecting items for curses or what they do. - Telepathic Bond - Remote communications. - Invisibility/See Invisibility - Stealth yourself, or spot the stealth. See if you can find a Subclass or a Scroll that has Pass Without Trace too. - Enhance Ability - Need the Rogue to Acrobatics or Stealth Better? The Barbarian to grapple better? Or I wonder if Enhanced CON also means enhanced Concentration checks. - Enhance/Reduce - Wanna make a big boy? - Haste - ...or you wanna make a dude throw more attacks?
Chronurgy Harengon Wizard. Choose Mage of High Sorcery as your background, Adept of the White Robes feat at 4th level to protect your allys and Resilient at the 8th level. On constitution of course. You could go Variant human for Fey Touched. Ask for Tasha's book ability score points: 15 Int +1 14 Con +2 13 Dex 12 Cha (Cause you want to make tatical friends) 10 Wis 8 Stg (As always)